article · Sensors
Heavy metal pollution poses severe risks to environmental and human health, creating a need for effective monitoring methods. This research presents an electrochemical sensor designed to detect cadmium ions using porous silica spheres doped with zinc oxide nanoparticles. Zinc oxide acts as the dopant to boost electrical conductivity, which enhances cadmium detection. The composite material was evaluated using microscopic, spectroscopic, and electrochemical techniques. Testing showed strong selectivity for cadmium ions over other divalent metal ions. The sensor features two distinct linear detection ranges, transitioning from diffusion-controlled to surface-controlled oxidation, and achieves a limit of detection of 4.4 x 10^-11 mol per litre. Evaluated in real tap water and seawater samples spiked with cadmium, the device demonstrated good repeatability and satisfactory recovery rates between 89 and 102 percent.
Cadmium is a hazardous heavy metal pollutant that harms ecosystems and human health even at low levels. Current testing methods can be complex or slow. Developing sensitive, selective, and repeatable electrochemical sensors makes it easier to measure trace contamination directly in natural and municipal water sources, supporting better environmental monitoring and public health protection.
This sensor could enable real-time water quality monitoring equipment for environmental monitoring bodies, municipal utilities, and testing laboratories. Because the sensor has been tested on real spiked tap water and seawater samples, the technology is at an applied laboratory stage rather than pure theory, though the abstract does not indicate full industrial prototyping or field validation.
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Pollution by heavy metal ions has a serious impact on human health and the environment, which is why the monitoring of heavy metal ions is of great practical importance. In this work, we describe the development of an electrochemical sensor for the detection of cadmium (Cd<sup>2+</sup>) involving the doping of porous SiO<sub>2</sub> spheres with ZnO nanoparticles. Zinc oxide is chosen as the central dopant in the composite material to increase the conductivity and thus improve the electrochemical detection of Cd<sup>2+</sup> ions with the SiO<sub>2</sub> spheres. The resulting composite is characterized by electrochemical spectroscopic XRD and microscopic methods. As a result, the developed sensor shows good selectivity towards the targeted Cd<sup>2+</sup> ions compared to other divalent ions. After optimization of the experimental conditions, the electrochemical sensor shows two different linear ranges between 2.5 × 10<sup>-11</sup> molL<sup>-1</sup> to 1.75 × 10<sup>-10</sup> molL<sup>-1</sup> and 2 × 10<sup>-9</sup> molL<sup>-1</sup> to 1.75 × 10<sup>-9</sup> molL<sup>-1</sup>, indicating a change from diffusion-controlled to surface-controlled oxidation of Cd<sup>2+</sup>. A detection limit was reached at 4.4 × 10<sup>-11</sup> molL<sup>-1</sup>. In addition, it offers good repeatability and recovery, and can detect accurate trace amounts of Cd<sup>2+</sup> ions in real samples such as tap water or seawater by spiking these samples with known Cd<sup>2+</sup> concentrations. This setup also provides satisfactory recovery rates in the range of 89-102%.
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DOI: 10.3390/s24134179
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